Roofing manufacturer GAF, a Standards Industries company, continued to invest in resilience through its GAF Community Matters social impact initiative, helping communities across the United States in several ways.

In one year, GAF repaired or replaced 500 roofs on the homes of families and individuals throughout the U.S. Gulf Region that had been impacted by natural disasters. The company has supported 850-plus families by reroofing projects. Since 2020, GAF has helped repair roofs on over 3,500 homes.

GAF held more than 100 GAF Roofing Academy classes to bolster the roofing industry's workforce, with over 1,000 individuals trained in the program. Over 630 Roofing Academy students have been hired by GAF-certified contractors. GAF has trained over 3,000 community members in essential roofing skills through GAF Roofing Academy.

The roofing manufacturer has partnered with several national and local nonprofits, including Rebuilding Together, Habitat for Humanity, Team Rubicon, and St. Bernard Project. Through these partnerships, more than 500 communities and over 180 disaster responses were supported by GAF nonprofit partners. Since 2020, over 1,000 GAF employees have also volunteered in local communities.

Photo courtesy of the Iowa Economic Development Corporation

The Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security announced a temporary file rule that will increase the limit of H-2B nonimmigrant visas by nearly 65,000 for 2024.

According to a joint statement from the departments, the supplemental visas – totaling 64,716 – will be available to U.S. businesses “that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm” without the ability to employ H-2B workers. This is similar to when the departments made 64,716 additional H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for fiscal year 2023.

"[The] NRCA had urged the federal agencies to issue these additional visas and is pleased with the administration’s action to release them earlier than in previous years, which will help employers meet their peak workforce needs in fiscal year 2024," the National Roofing Contractors Association said on its website.

To assist businesses that need workers to begin work on different start dates, the supplemental visas will be distributed in several allocations, including two separate allocations for the second half of fiscal year 2024.

Of the additional visas, 44,716 are available only for returning workers (workers who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status in one of the last three fiscal years). The remaining 20,000 visas are set aside for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica (country-specific allocation) who are exempt from the returning worker requirement.

To qualify for the additional 64,716 visas, petitions must be received at the Texas Service Center by Sept. 16, 2024.

To qualify for an H-2B petition, applicants must meet all existing H-2B eligibility requirements, including obtaining an approved temporary labor certification from the Department of Labor valid for the entire employment period stated on the petition. The employment start date on the petition must match the employment start date on the certification, even if that date has passed.